TNAG-0980-FCO40-1199-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-British-nationality-1980 — Page 57

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

OSR 11 (Revised)

DRAFT:minute/letter/teleletter/despatch/note

FROM:

W Jones

DEPARTMENT:

ECURITY CLASSIFICATION

TO:

Top Secret

Secret

Confidential

Restricted

Unclassified

PRIVACY MARKING

W M Lee Esq NLRU

Home Office

Sunley House

4 Bedford Park CROYDON CR9 2BY

SUBJECT:

TEL. NO:

TYPE: Draft/Final 1+

Reference.

GNN 340/1(13)

Your Reference

Copies to:

NEW NATIONALITY LAW: POWERS OF GOVERNORS

..In Confidence

1.

CAVEAT..

Enclosures-flag(s)...................

John Towner wrote to Peter Brown on 27 August about whether a Governor's powers to register and naturalise persons as CBDTs under the new law should be subject to the Secretary of State's approval. Since then we have

obtained the views of Governors.

2. The majority of Governors are in favour of devolution of powers to naturalise without the need to obtain the Secretary of State's approval in individual cases. They do not think that this will cause them problems locally. They and we

-

see advantage in powers

being vested in the Secretary of State and specifically devolved by him to Governors. This provides some degree of protection for Governors and makes them subject to the directives of the Secretary of State in the way they use their devolved powers.

3. To complete the picture I propose to add that the two Governors who had some doubts about this course were the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar. We are satisfied that in reality there need be no problem in the Falkland Islands and in the case of Gibraltar the Governor could accept the proposal in the preceding paragraph as an alternative to maintenance of the status quo.

4.

We should consequently like the relevant section of the new law to read something like

'The Secretary of State may make arrangements for

/the

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